Paradise and Pennsylvania Re-Visited

If ever there was an 8 hour drive worth making, in the month of October when the leaves are changing to fiery red and lush gold, it is the one that takes you right into the heart of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In fact, we're now currently 7 of 8, meaning, each year we've lived within a reasonable vicinity, we've sojourned there--this time heading north from the ol' Caroline, pit- stopping in Richmond, and finally rendezvousing with our Amish friends in paradise.

   

 As always it's kind of a whirlwind trip, made sweeter by the fact that the perfect halfway point just happens to be Richmond, VA, where we have family living and two very beloved cousins to play with! We left after Jon got home from work last Wednesday evening, and as soon as the sun came up Thursday morning Lucy and Zach (and Leah) played with their cousins until it was time to go.

 Much to their reluctance the Cafe Rio in Olney, MD was seriously calling my name, so northward we headed in our search to find the fall leaves. And although I ate there like 10 times this summer while I visited Boise, and any reasonable person might rightfully think that eating the same thing again and again and again would be tiring, I can honestly say my pork salad was BETTER than I remembered it. It's true love, I guess.

 We finally arrived in Lancaster about mid-afternoon, and baby Leah was definitely ready to be out of her carseat! We headed to see the animals at Kitchen Kettle Village first, and Leah was pretty enamored with our llama friend. I think he remembered us from last year.

 Lucy was certainly glad to see those chompers again!

 Such bliss! A perfect afternoon, a perfect backdrop, and the whole place all to ourselves! I'm not sure why, but somehow we must gravitate to "old people stuff." Living in Pinehurst where the median age is like 65, apparently we even like to vacation with the old birds too, because we were easily the youngest people at Kitchen Kettle Village that day by a good 30 years. We have mature taste! 

 

 Decorating the traditional gingerbread man. It was all I could manage to snap a picture while keeping Zach from shooting the frosting straight into his mouth, and Leah from bailing out of her stroller to do the same thing! Peas in a pod, they are.

 Beautiful Amish farmland! A sight for these sore eyes...

 My Cafe Rio high only lasted so long, so it was on to a buttery cinnamon sugar pretzel next. Seriously! H-E-A-V-E-N. I wonder if I could get them to ship me a steady supply somehow? I love those Amish women.

After some speed shopping in some of my favorite knick-knacky stores, we decided to drive around to see a bit of the countryside. The farms are so beautiful this time of year, with the harvests coming in, and the pumpkins sitting out in the fields with the corn stalks. We headed to a nearby farm to get some homemade rootbeer and apple cider to drink along the way, which made it just that much better, and then spent the rest of the evening swimming in the hotel pool and trying to get naughty little kids off to bed!

 Friday morning we woke up bright and early and hit the outlet malls by our hotel. Woohoo! We stopped for lunch at Red Robin on our way to Hershey, PA, which was made thoroughly enjoyable by the fact that baby Leah obliged us by sleeping through it in her carseat, so mom and dad could sit and eat for a change.

 Hershey's Chocolate World! Such a fun place to be right around Halloween.

 Of course we hit the free "cow ride" very first, and Leah was quite entertained by the singing milk cows, "Moo-Woo!" Look at that little face-- she didn't even know such wondrous things existed!

 Happy little campers! They are particularly fond of the free samples at the end. Oh yeah! While I stocked up on various flavors of Hershey's baking morsels (they're waaaaay cheaper), the kiddos each picked a treat, and we were on our way to Philly. We don't usually include a jaunt up to the ol' Il-adelph, but Jon convinced me we should cut Amish Country short by a day and instead re-visit our old stomping grounds.

 He was so right! Just being back in one of my all-time favorite cities made me SO happy! I LOVE this city. It holds so many good memories for me-- I think because it was really where Jon and I solidified our marriage, and I became a mom, and we lived far away from family on our own. It was a four year non-stop adventure to live in a city that big. I was overwhelmed with feelings of nostalgia just driving down Henry Avenue, and then especially when we stopped here at apartment 14B. 

 Just like old times-- parallel parking on Henry. I thought Lucy would maybe recognize a little bit here and there, but nothing. Nada. Which I suppose is just as well! She was only 3 when we left.

 My two Philadelphia babies! 

 We quickly drove down to Valley Green, which is basically across the street from our old apartment, and it was so beautiful! Just like we remembered! I spent many a morning here with friends, walking along the river, feeding the ducks, and pushing a baby stroller.

 Little Leah was quite a trooper with all of this walking down memory lane business!

We had quite a debate that night of whether or not to get cheesesteaks for dinner (Jon doesn't like them but I do), and he finally won so we headed to downtown Manayunk to one of our old favorites, "The Couch Tomato" for pizza and panninis. 

 Saturday morning we had quite the checklist of places to see before we left, so we headed down Kelly Dr. (my favorite), observed the Schuylkill River, swung by the Musuem of Art and the Rocky statue, and kept making our way towards central Philadelphia.

 Jon wanted to see Temple one more time, but naturally the security guards wouldn't let him in since he wasn't a student anymore. All I can say is I'm glad he somehow survived those four years unscathed because that school is seriously right in the middle of the GHETTO. Crazy! 

 Here's our old church! Still standing, which is kind of amazing considering you can tell the windows have been broken a few times and the front was recently graffitied. Lots of memories from that wacky ward!

 We also really wanted to see where the new Philadelphia temple was going to be built, so we found the address and drove by the construction site. It's going to be beautiful-- it looks like the Nauvoo temple, and they've already got a good start on the foundation, so things are finally progressing. What a HUGE blessing to all the students and members of our old stake not to have to go all the way to DC anymore! 

 And the pies de resistance of our trip to Philly would have to be getting lunch at Reading Terminal Market. Man, I love that place! A foodie's paradise! Just the smells and hustle bustle brought back so many fun memories. We had to get an original turkey sandwich! 

Jon chanced upon this little beauty once: Sourdough bread, a little mayo, lettuce, tomato, and the roast TURKEY! Out of all the thousands of things we could have gone back to try, we picked this little, unassuming sandwich. So good! Jon and I split this and a cheesesteak (so I guess I kind of won too), and it was a lunch to remember. 

 We got some Famous 4th St. cookies to go, and sadly kissed Philly goodbye. Sniff.

And even though we weren't hungry, we still stopped at Cafe Rio for dinner on our way back to Richmond (I simply channeled the use of my "Cruise Gut"-- ask my dad for the full definition on that, but basically it means you pull out the elastic waist pants and go for the glory!) because I couldn't bear the thought of passing up one more opportunity to eat there before next summer. Sunday morning we headed back home to North Carolina, and although the kids got pretty squirrely about 45 minutes away from home and Leah screamed bloody murder the rest of the way, considering all the time we spent cooped up in a car, I'd call the trip a success. Here's to next year's trip!